


Christmas On Shipwreck Cove

by ReinbewPastel



Category: Pirates of the Caribbean (Movies), Pirates of the Caribbean: Jack Sparrow - Rob Kidd
Genre: Christmas, Gen, Young Jack Sparrow, jack sparrow books, pirates of the caribbean - Freeform, rob kidd
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-27
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:54:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27488422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReinbewPastel/pseuds/ReinbewPastel
Summary: How do pirates spend Christmas in the Caribbean? Here's a holiday story that takes place a few months before Child of Teague! Shenanigans ensue as Jack Sparrow and his pirate family get ready for the holiday.Originally published in 2019.Fanfiction by me, Reinbew PastelPirates of the Caribbean Jack Sparrow by Rob Kidd © Disney Press
Relationships: Jack Sparrow & Edward Teague
Kudos: 7





	1. Drink And Be Merry

**Author's Note:**

> (a small warning for a bit of swearing. Enjoy!)

It was a week before Christmas and all throughout the world, families began to gather together to decorate their homes and trees, shop for gifts, happily sing carols, and await the arrival of Father Christmas. Everybody went about spreading cheer...except for the pirates of the Caribbean. The pirates simply continued to pillage and plunder, and spent their earnings at pirate havens where they drank at pubs, gambled at gaming houses, and did whatever they pleased at the brothels. One of the more notable pirate havens was Shipwreck Cove. An island that towered hundreds of ship hulks. And within it was Shipwreck City, which was where meetings of the Brethren Court were held.

One of the brothels in Shipwreck City, like many others, was filled with life as everyone partied throughout the night. All kinds of sailors and strumpets drinking, gambling, dancing, and some even went up stairs to some of the rooms for private time. Amongst them all was a young man who stood out a bit in the room full of partiers. He seemed to be the youngest. A bit shorter than the rest, lanky, with unkept clothing and dark ragged hair over his red bandana. He was somewhere in his teens, but most people didn't need to know. The only people who knew were the madams who worked in the brothel, and who also hosted the party. They didn't care really since his father was a regular at the brothel and he grew up learning tips and tricks from the girls there.

The boy, Jack Sparrow, knew fully well he wasn't allowed to be at the party, but he didn't care. He needed to get away from his cutthroat pirate family for once and have a nice time during the holiday week. As long as he would get home by the time his family would be passed out from the drink around the living chamber and kitchen, no one would know. With one of the madams at his side and a group of pirates he'd cliqued with, he lifted his tankard for a toast, and everyone else in the group did the same with theirs.

"Here's to new friends, partying, and being away from the family for the holiday!" Jack declared, slurring a bit as he was already clearly buzzed.

"The holiday?" one of the pirates asked, interrupting the toast.

"Well, yes. That's this week ye know," Jack said. He'd forgotten nobody celebrated Christmas in Shipwreck Cove.

Another pirate interrupted again. "And to getting really drunk?"

Jack rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes. And to getting really drunk," he stated.

The group all clanked their tankards of rum together and took a large swig. The drink burned going down his throat and all his limbs grew warm, and Jack loved every bit of it.

A half a tankard down, the door began to loudly bang.

_BANG BANG BANG!_

Jack looked around the room. Everyone was either too occupied or too incoherent to notice the door banging. He shrugged it off and took another swig of rum as the door kept banging again. Again, no one noticed.

Jack groaned and rolled his eyes as he excused his joking drunk friends and slowly walked to the door with his tankard still in hand, careful not to trip over anyone already passed out.

He turned the handle and cracked the door open. Just open enough to see who was behind the door. Jack looked up through the crack and to see the pirate standing before him, looking down at him in disapproval. He had dreadlocks adorned in trinkets and a green bandana, a long red coat, and a large bicorne with a feather sticking through.

Jack's heart dropped as he quickly went from drunk and incoherent to sober and alert. It was Captain Teague! The Keeper of the Pirate Code, and the man who Jack suspected to be his father!

Adrenaline rushed through as he immediately slammed the door, grabbed a nearby chair a pirate had fallen out of, and shoved it under the doorknob at an angle. He ran to the other side of the room to the back window as he dodged drunken bodies.

He thought about jumping out through the window, but the door was already starting to open and he had to think fast. He quickly opened the window and threw what was left of his drink out. He knew he would already be in trouble for being at the party in the first place, there was no way his father could know he had been drinking. As the door opened all the way, Jack tossed his now empty tankard aside and turned to see a very angry Captain Teague standing just inside the open door. The whole party went dead silent as they all stared at the fuming captain.

"Jackie," the pirate began. "What are you doing here, boy? I thought I told you you weren't allowed to go to these parties."

Jack felt all the eyes in the room on him and his face turned hot in embarrassment.

"What am _I_ doing here? What are _you_ doing here?!" Jack retorted. "Do you have to do this in front of _everyone_?!"

"Look at all these people! They're too old for you, boy!" Teague said.

Jack was about to protest when Teague spoke again. "Don't they all know you're only _fifteen_?!"

Aside from a few small gasps from the crowd, the whole room suddenly felt even more cold and silent than it already just was before, and Jack's mouth hung open in shock.  
  


From her room, Valerie, Jack's older cousin who often took joy in beating him up, heard the shouting and cursing from outside. She smiled an evil grin, knowing things were about to go down.

Jack stormed angrily through the door of the Great Chamber, the room where the Brethren Court meetings were held, and Teague followed behind.

"I can't believe you got me kicked out of the party!" Jack yelled angrily, waving his arms excitedly. "I won't _ever_ be invited back at all because you revealed my age to the entire bloody world!" He knew he would probably be invited back to some of those parties at some point soon, but he wanted to make a point.

"Not of them lot care about your age, boy," Teague replied in a bit calmer tone than Jack.

"Well, the madams don't, but everyone else _does_!" Jack hissed. "You humiliated me in front of the whole party!"

"That's what happens when you go against my rules," Teague huffed. "I'd have Grandmama give you a floggin', but putting you through all that shame was enough punishment for you right now."

"Go fuck yourself and shove your stupid rules up yer arse!" Jack screamed.

Teague responded with a heavy slap across Jack's face that nearly knocked him to the ground. Jack face felt numb and tingly as he blinked away the tears he avoided showing to his father.

A slow clapping came down the stairs. Valerie had watched the whole thing. "Well, well. Looks like Christmas came early tonight, eh?" she said with a smug.

"Why does she always got to insert herself into every blasted argument we have?!" Jack snapped.

"Valerie, go back upstairs," Teague ordered.

Valerie ignored Teague as she strode up to Jack. "It was absolutely wonderful seeing the preview of what we're going to get on Christmas Day!"

"For all that is blessed and blasted, mind your own business! You always make everything worse!" Jack exclaimed.

"I don't make things worse, you always start everything!" Valerie snarled.

"BLOODY IDIOT!"

"TEAGUE'S WHELP!

"BLASTED SEA COW!"

"UGLY SQUID FACE!"

"STUPID BITCH!"

"SHUT IT! THE BOTH OF YOU!" Teague roared. His voice boomed through the room. The two cousins immediately stopped and looked at Teague.

"You two are no better than the rest of the family!" Teague reprimanded. "Both of you are almost adults and you act like bloody children. Go upstairs right now or I'll be changing me mind about Grandmama!"

"Sorry..." they both mumbled quickly, and they went up the stairs into the living chamber and up another flight of stairs to their rooms, cursing under their breath all the way up.


	2. I Saw Three Ships

It was right at the crack of dawn as Teague had been up early preparing to set out for holiday errands.

He went upstairs to wake up the cousins when he heard humming from his son's room. Teague put his ear to the door and listened.

_ "I saw three ships come sailing in _

_ On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day _

_ I saw three ships come sailing in _

_ On Christmas Day in the morning _

_ Oh they sailed into Shipwreck Cove _

_ On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day _

_ They sailed into Shipwreck Cove _

_ On Christmas Day in the morning!" _

Just then, Teague opened and barged through the door, interrupting Jack's hymn.

Jack yelped in surprise. "Hey! Why doesn't anybody in this blasted shack of a place ever knock?!"

Jack was sitting up on his bed with his back propped up against some pillows and a small book and pencil on his lap. Scattered about the floor were papers with scribbles written all over.

Teague bent over and gathered some of the papers. He then skimmed through some of the pages, and what was written on them looked like lyrics for some classic Christmas carols, except Jack had taken full liberty of rewriting them: " _ My Dong Is So Very Big _ " (in the tune of " _ Ding Dong Merrily On High _ "), " _ Good Fucking Wenches and Whores _ " (in tune of " _ Good King Wenceslas _ "), and many more.

Teague glared at Jack in disappoint and disgrace. "Do you not have any shame, boy?" he asked with scorn.

"Not any left after last night," Jack mumbled, pushing his book off his lap and sinking into his bed.

Teague tossed the papers on top of Jack and walked toward the door. He turned back to Jack. "Come on now. Borya offered to give us a lift on one of the  _ Koldunyas _ so we don't have to take mine or Grandmama's ship."

"Ugh, it's too early! Why do I have to go!" Jack complained, snuggling under his covers even further.

"Jackie, we need your help in getting some supplies for our Christmas feast, and we need help cutting down the tree," Teague said. Jack thought about it.

Though Teague was known to be laid back, mysterious, and quiet, he had quite the temper, especially to those who disrespected the Pirate Code. Jack had seen this for himself, and plenty of times have been on the receiving end of his eruptive temper.

During Christmas, Teague had before used an old fake tree he had made long ago, and the tree finally fell apart last year. Teague's temper would flare up every year when it came time for decorating the tree, becoming grumbly, irritated, and angry, and it was quite funny and entertaining to see. Jack smiled a bit at the thought. He quickly hid it and pretended to be indecisive.

"Um...I don't know. I'm so tired and it's so early... Ugh, all right! Okay, I'll go," Jack said, pushing the covers off himself.

"Good. I was going to force you to come if you said no," Teague said. "I'll go tell Valerie to get ready, too."

Jack's inner giddiness quickly faded. " _ VALERIE _ ?! Why does she have to go?!"

"The more hands, the merrier. Get up and ready, mate," and without hesitation, Teague walked out of the room and shut the door.

After sailing to one of the port islands some ways away for fresher food, and Valerie nearly pushing Jack off the ship again and locking him in the cargo deck, the  _ Koldunya _ landed by one of the wild islands nearby Shipwreck Island to pick out a potential Christmas tree. Jack, Valerie, and Teague waded to shore while Bora waited for them at his ship.

"You know that there are no evergreen in the Caribbean, right?" Jack asked as they trudged through scrubs and brushes.

"Of course," Teague huffed in reply. "Not every Christmas tree has to be an evergreen. We just have to find one that will work."

Throughout the hour the three searched, they had no luck in finding a tree that would support candles, ornaments, and any other decorations.

Jack started to notice Teague's temper beginning to flare up, and that was then he knew what he was looking forward to was about to begin. Teague mumbled and cursed under his breath as Jack tried to hold in his laughter.

Eventually, they found a shortish palm bush that would possibly fit into the Great Chamber, and could support the decorations. Teague examined the stump of the tree and began to search his effects. Noticing Teague's growing frustration, Jack prepared for his father's realization that he had forgotten something.

"Here we go..." Jack muttered, smiling and rubbing his hands together.

"Bugger...Goddammit!" Teague swore loudly. "I forgot the bloody godforsaken axe!"

"Ye mean the one on the  _ Koldunya _ ?" Valerie questioned, raising an eyebrow and smirking a little.

"Dammit! Why didn't you tell us  _ before _ we left the ship?!" Teague demanded.

"Nobody asked me," Valerie answered with a shrug.

Teague grumbled and cursed under his breath. He noticed Jack chuckling at the side.

"You."

Jack looked surprised. "Wait—what? Me?" Jack said, putting a hand on his chest and looking around.

"Go fetch me the axe from Borya's ship, ye misbegotten welp," Teague barked.

Jack opened his mouth to protest, but Teague shot him a deathly glare. He sighed and put his hands up in defeat. "Ugh, fine. I will."

Jack sulkily trudged all the way back to the beach, where he waded back out to the  _ Koldunya _ to retrieve the axe and ran back to Teague and Valerie as he retraced his steps.

Once Teague had finally chopped the tree down, while still grumbling and cursing, the three had carried the tree back to Borya's ship and they set sail back to Shipwreck Cove.

The next day, Jack was tasked to help out decorate the Christmas tree. With the promise of extra pocket money and hopefully some entertainment from Teague, he was pretty on board with it.

He came down to the Great Chamber. Valerie and "Quick Draw" McFlemming's children, the four little cousins, hung around by the tree sitting at the back by where the stairs were. Three of the kids had ganged up on one kid and were wrapping tinsel around him as they were kicking him to the ground. Valerie was putting candles up in the tree and Teague sat in a chair going through a small crate of decorations, grumbling and cursing as he struggled to untangle more tinsel and and garland. Jack could barely stifle a giggle at the sight.

"Well, looks like no one needs ol' Jack Sparrow here anymore. Guess I'll go back to bed," Jack said. He turned to go back upstairs and Teague sat up.

"Oh no you don't, boy," Teague said. "I can't find any of the bloody ornaments with the tinsel and candles, so I need you to go down to the cellar to look for them."

Teague put his thumb and forefinger to his lips and whistled. Just then, a dust-colored mongrel appeared in the room with the ring of jingling keys readily in its mouth. The ring contained the keys to all the dungeons, cellars, and of course, the  _ Pirata Codex _ . The dog trotted over to his master wagging its tail as Teague removed the keys from its mouth.

"Go fetch me the ornaments quickly," Teague ordered. "And  _ don't _ get into anything else." he added.

Jack rolled his eyes and took the ring of keys from Teague, and headed straight to the cellar with the prison dog following right at his heels.

Jack unlocked the door with one of the keys and went down, letting the door shut behind him. Dimly lit candles led him through the dark cold cellar. All the holiday decorations were in the back, but before it was all the rum. Much of the rum in there was the best in the Caribbean, and many pirates would kill to have this kind of rum.

Jack decided to stop and browse through the rum. He was told to come back quickly, but Teague was probably distracted, grumbling and cursing at something else.

Jack picked up one of the bottles from the shelf and examined it. He pulled off the cork, took a whiff, and smiled. The good stuff! He pushed the cork back in and went to stick the bottle in his waistcoat when...

_ WOOF! _

" _ Shh!!  _ Shut it you mutt!" Jack hissed through gritted teeth.

The dog still continued to bark.  _ WOOF! WOOF! _

" _ Shh!! _ " Jack shushed again. "Look, I'll give you extra rum in your dinner tonight if you keep your trap shut. Savvy?"

The dog went quiet and tilted his head as his ears perked up. That mutt sure did have a taste for rum.

Jack stuffed the bottle into his waistcoat and proceeded to the back of the cellar. He went through each of the crates and found a wooden box that looked like it had ornaments in it.

Jack carried the box back up the stairs and to the Great Chamber where Teague was waiting for him. He handed the keys back to Teague who stuck the ring back into the dog's mouth.

"Here, I think the ornaments are in there," Jack said.

Teague looked through the box, shifting things inside. Then, he had a confused and frustrated look on his face. Jack could tell something was wrong.

"Jackie, is there any more ornaments down below?" Teague asked. "I thought we had more than this!"

Jack shrugged, making no effort to hide his smirk at the increasingly irritated Teague. "Dunno. I looked through all the crates and boxes."

Teague looked through the box once more. He began cursing under his breath again.

"Goddammit!" he yelled. All the cousins jumped and stared at Teague. Jack snorted. "All the ornaments in here are all bloody broken! We can't use any of them!" He forcefully pushed the box aside and began pacing back and forth.

Jack knelt down and took a gander inside the box. Yup, all the ornaments inside were broken.

"We could just buy  _ new _ ones," Jack suggested. "We have a few days til Christmas, so how about we sail out tomorrow to another town and find more decorations, eh?"

"I mean, we all could just  _ make _ them," Valerie added. Jack shrugged in agreement.

Teague cursed some more and glanced towards Jack.

"We're  _ not _ waiting until tomorrow and we're  _ not _ making any," Teague said. "The whelp is coming with me into town and we're buying ornaments here."

Christmas ornaments in Shipwreck Cove? Jack and everyone else knew there was no making sense into Teague. He huffed as he sat up, and he and Teague walked out of the large shack made of ship hulks.

The two had looked through multiple shops around the city and had no luck in any of them. After each of the stops they went into, Teague became more and more grumbly and irritable, and Jack enjoyed the slow build up of anger.

They tried again in one last shop. Jack and Teague walked in, with the little bell above ringing as the top of the door hit it. The place was a bit of a hole in the wall, but it seemed to have precious decorations nonetheless. They browsed through the shelves, each of them with nice little pieces like mini statues, vases, antiques, but no ornaments or anything related to Christmas. Jack braced himself for another blowup from Teague.

"Goddammit! And this is the last shop in town..." Teague grumbled under his breath after they've given up.

"Teague,  _ no one _ celebrates Christmas here in Shipwreck Cove. So what did you think? That they would have Christmas stuff even though no one celebrates it?" Jack said amusingly, trying to keep his voice low in the quiet shop. "All that we have here is a bunch of bloody pirates, cutthroats, scallywags, and whores. Why do we even celebrate it anyway? Remember what you always say to me when you drag me to those boring meetings?  _ 'We're pirates goddammit!' _ " He said the last part in a mocking tone.

The pirate captain huffed and glared at Jack. He leaned over, his face being inches away from Jack's. Uncomfortable with his personal bubble being violated, Jack took a couple steps back away from Teague.

"Remember what I told you when you asked this before, boy?" Teague growled.

"Yes, we celebrate it for the drinking and getting blasted. However, I see no point in me participating in the festivities when I'm not even allowed to drink," Jack answered, crossing his arms and sticking his chin up defiantly.

Teague opened his mouth to respond when the shopkeeper interrupted them. "Is there anything I can help you two with?"

Teague turned to the shopkeeper and changed his tone. "Ah, yes, mate. We were looking for Christmas ornaments and hoping by the chance would you have some?"

The shopkeeper looked confused for a moment. "Hm, I'll go take a look," The shopkeeper went behind the counter and searched around. After a couple minutes, the shopkeeper pulled up a wooden box onto the counter. "I'm not sure if this is anything you were looking for, sir, but this will hopefully be close enough."

Teague and Jack looked inside the box. The contents inside sort of resembled ornaments, but not anything for Christmas. They seemed to be more fitting to a pirate theme: little skulls, swords, pistols, little glass balls decorated with rope, mini chests, treasures and jewels, etc.

Jack looked at Teague with a raised eyebrow. "I don't think these have anything to do wi—"

"We'll take 'em!" Teague interrupted, slamming a pouch of coins down on the counter.

The father and son stormed into the Great Chamber with a box of decorations. Valerie and the little cousins were stringing tinsel and garland on the tree.

"All right you scoundrels! Take everything off the bloody tree except for the candles right now!" Teague demanded.

"Oh, come on!" Valerie complained. "We just finished putting the tinsel and garland on!"

"That's unneeded. We just got new ornaments for the tree and all of that won't fit," Teague said.

Jack placed the box of new ornaments down by the tree. "I'm afraid he has a different plan in mind," he said quietly.

"Quick Draw" McFlemming entered the chamber from upstairs. "Ey! Did ye all ever finish decorating that tree yet?" she asked with a slight gruff.

"Nope," everyone chanted.

"We're just barely getting started," Jack said. He turned to Teague with a glare. "because of  _ this _ one." Teague huffed and glared back.

"Bloody dammit! Ye better be done by sundown or I'll be letting Grandmama know!" McFlemming threatened. She turned and went back upstairs.

Everyone else turned to the porthole window. Outside, they could see it was getting close to sunset. They only had about an hour to decorate the tree.

Teague turned to all the cousins. "I need you all to start putting up the ornaments after you take all that glittery stuff off the tree," Teague ordered. He then sat in on his chair in the corner and began strumming his guitar, leaving kids to decorate the tree themselves.

The cousins took all the tinsel and garland off the tree and hung the new ornaments. The new ornaments looked very fitting for the setting they were in, but not really for the holidays. They worked nonetheless.

Jack pulled out a red fabric cut in a circle pattern. "All right then, now that the ornaments are up, we should put the tree skirt down and—"

"NO!" Teague burst out of his chair and snatched the tree skirt from Jack's hands.

"What now?!" Jack cried.

"This tree skirt is Christmas themed!"

"And?"

"The ornaments are pirate themed!"

"So?"

"We  _ cannot _ have a Christmas tree skirt with pirate ornaments!" Teague explained.

"And so what are we supposed to use for a tree skirt?" Jack scoffed. "We can't just have the bottom of the tree be bare! If you're going to want a tree skirt to fit with the ornaments, wouldn't you just use a bloody flag or something?"

Though Jack didn't ask with a serious intention, an idea still sparked in Teague's head. Teague whistled for the prison dog, and the mutt happily trotted with him to the cellar.

The children waited a few moments before Teague came back in the room holding neatly folded fabric. He knelt down under the tree and laid the fabric around the stump of the tree. It was a black flag, and it had a skull in the middle with two crossed daggers just below.

"This was one of Grandmama's retired flags from her younger days," Teague said.

"You can change flags?" Jack asked curiously.

"Well, it's not necessary," Teague answered, "but sometimes they could use a design change."

Jack had thought about what his flag would be when he procures his own ship someday. Maybe something like a bird as a connection to his name...

Teague and the little cousins marveled at the tree as Jack looked through some of the decoration boxes in case they were missing anything.

"This family is absolutely mad to have a pirate tree for Christmas," Jack mumbled under his breath as he sifted through the decorations.

"Well we  _ are _ pirates," Valerie added in. Jack rolled his eyes at her interruption. "Remember what Teague always tells ye?"

"Yeah,  _ 'we're pirates goddammit,' _ " Jack snickered. He reached to the bottom of the box and pulled out a crudely knitted angel that was meant to go on top of the tree. He sat up and brought the doll to Teague. "Hey, you're missing this."

Teague looked down at the doll in surprise, then frowned and shook his head. "No. This won't work."

Jack's arm dropped and he looked up at Teague with a disapproving glare. "Oh, well of course it won't work! Nothing ever works for you!" Jack told off. "There's no tree without a topper. And if you're thinking about dragging me all around Shipwreck City again searching for a new 'piratey' tree topper, then count me out! I want  _ no _ part of it!" He huffed and turned away, crossing his arms. Jack expected Teague to argue back, but the pirate had something else in mind.

"Actually," Teague said thoughtfully, "we may not need to do that."

"Huh?" Jack perked up a little and turned toward Teague.

"We could probably use something we already have," Teague hinted.

After a minute of thinking, Teague reached to his belt and untied something off of it. He pulled it off his belt, reached up the tree, and began to tie it to the top.

Jack's eyes widened when he realized what it was. The thing appeared to be a small dark head with a white coarse hair. The mouth was stitched shut with two sticks.

"Oi! You can't put  _ Mum _ on top of the tree!" Jack cried out.

"Why not?" Teague asked.

"It's  _ disrespectful _ !" Jack fumed.

"No, it is not," Teague insisted. He finished tying the head and backed away to view the now fully decorated pirate-Christmas tree. "Doesn't she look beautiful up there?"

"I have to admit, it  _ is _ a little creepy, Teague," Valerie commented. The four little cousins all huddled behind her in fear.

Jack's mouth hung open in shock. He didn't know what to do, think, or say. He looked down at the knitted angel in his hand and squeezed it.

He stared back to Teague with hatred and tears in his eyes and whispered, " _ I hate you _ ." He threw the doll on the ground and stormed upstairs, pushing past McFlemming and Uncle Jack who were going down.

Jack slammed the door to his bedchamber as he quickly marched to his desk. He grabbed to the edge of the desk and hung his head as he sobbed. He couldn't believe anyone, especially his own father—or who he thought was his father—would do this to his mum. It wasn't entirely harmful, but it was still out of disrespect, and though he didn't know her, he knew his mum would not have liked to be used as decoration. She probably would not have like to have been turned into a shrunken head in the first place.

He was too young to remember his mother; what she looked like, what she sounded like, what happened to her, the last Christmas he had spent with her. Although he was able to hide the pain easily since he didn't have to remember the trauma of loosing her, unlike many other traumas he  _ did _ remember, it made it hurt even more when it did.

He continued to cry as he took the bottle of rum he had stolen from his waistcoat and pulled the cork off. He stared down as he held the bottle with a shaking hand. He put the bottle to his lips and chugged as much of it as he could before nearly puking it back up. He threw himself on his bed where he continued to sob into his pillow.

After what felt like a while, Jack's cries slowly ceased as the alcohol took over. However, he was still sad. A sad drunk. Being sad drunk was the worst. Someone began to knock on his door.

"What?" Jack murmured in a low, miserable sounding voice, as he turned his head a little from his wet pillow.

"Ey, Jacky-boy," Uncle Jack called from behind the door.

Before his uncle could say anything else, Jack responded with harsh coldness in his voice, " _ Don't _ come in here."

"All right, I won't," said Uncle Jack. "But I want to talk with ye."

Jack stayed silent.

"I knew yer mum," Uncle Jack began, still talking from behind the door. "She was real nice, but boy was she a tough one, she was. She was the only one who had a sense of order around the family, and was a great crewmember aboard Teague's ship."

Tears once again silently cascaded down Jack's face as he listened to his uncle talk about his mum.

Uncle Jack continued. "Aye, the situation we have at hand isn't good, but there's honestly no makin' sense to Teague. But if it makes ye feel better, just think of yer mum as that angel on top of the tree lookin' down on you right now. And she's lookin' down on you seeing how proud she is of you and where ye are right now. Aye?"

Jack still stayed silent, but Uncle Jack knew he listened to every word he said.

"Do ye want to come back down with us, Jackie?" Uncle Jack asked.

Jack hoarsely replied "No."

"All right, hope ye feel better, boy."

Jack heard steps fade away from his door and he was left to his own again. His vision was blurred from both tears and drunkenness. He buried his face into his pillow again and softly wept throughout the night.


	3. Merrily On High

A few days later, Jack was up bright and early, and he still felt dreary from the past few days. The holiday depression had definitely kicked in. He trudged downstairs to the living chamber, and to his surprise, none of his family was in the living chamber. Not a single one of them sleeping or drunkenly sprawled out on the floor.

He went down the next flight of stairs to the Great Chamber, and he suddenly found where all his family had went. They were all gathered around the tree opening presents. All of them were there: Teague, Uncle Jack, "Quick Draw" McFlemming, "Ace" Brannigan, Aunt Hazel, Patriarch, Valerie, the little cousins, Grandmama, and Mum sitting right on top of the tree. Jack shivered at the sight of Mum, but he tried to remember what Uncle Jack told him.

"Happy Christmas, Jacky-boy!" Teague cheered as the family took notice of Jack's presence.

"Oh right," Jack said flatly, "it's Christmas."

"Come 'ere, boy," Teague said. "I've got somethin' for you."

Jack carefully stepped over the kids and all the empty present wrappings. "Is it going to be another pair of socks?" he asked.

"Nope, even better," Teague replied, searching under the tree for Jack's gift. He paused and looked down, pointing at Jack's bare feet. "But what happened to the socks from last year?"

"Ah, too many holes," Jack quickly answered. But that was not why he didn't wear any of his Christmas socks.

He kept all of his socks in the abandoned dungeons with his books and rags for when he needed to do the deed himself. He had been caught too many times trying to do it in his own home. When he was ten, Valerie locked him in a crate for a long period of time and he decided to do it right there. Valerie eventually caught him and pulled him out with his trousers down to his ankles. She cried in laughter while young Jack sobbed in shame. The second time, Teague barged in on him when he was thirteen and was given a harsh flogging by Grandmama. Jack shook his head at the memory.

Teague found his present and stepped over to Jack. It was a long narrow box with a crudely tied bow on it. Jack stared down at the box and looked up at Teague, as if he wanted permission to open it. Teague gave a nod and Jack proceeded to open his gift.

He lifted up the lid and revealed a nicely cushioned dagger in a molded leather sheath. Jack picked up the dagger and removed the sheath. The blade was new, shiny, and sharp. The corners of Jack's mouth slowly curled into a small smile.

"It's beautiful. Thank you," Jack whispered as he examined the dagger.

Teague turned to the family and clapped his hands. "Time for Christmas carols!"

"People still do those?" Valerie sneered. Everyone in the family got up and gathered around the tree.

"All right, mates!" Teague announced. "The first song we'll be singing is—" Teague was interrupted by a knife that whistled just past his ear. Everyone turned to Grandmama, who stood in the back.

"Avast ye all with the Christmas carols!" Grandmama yelled out. She pointed to the makeshift pirate flag tree skirt. "Ye can't be singing that to the Jolly Roger!" Everyone went quiet and whispered amongst themselves.

Jack was about to make a wisecrack comment when Valerie slapped him upside the head. "Don't give 'em any ideas!" she hissed.

It was too late, the family had already come up with an idea. "All right. How about we sing shanties then, aye?" Teague suggested

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Pirate songs? Sea shanties?" he questioned.

The family all began to sing.

_ "Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me _

_ We pillage, we plunder, we rifle, and loot _

_ Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho _

_ We kidnap and ravage and don't give a hoot _

_ Drink up me 'earties, yo ho..." _

Jack stood there in confusion in the middle of his singing family members. "This is bloody ridiculous," he grumbled.

Valerie snorted in laughter.

"Come on, Jacky-Boy! Sing!" Uncle Jack said.

"Ugh.  _ Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me _ ," Jack sang flatly.

Later in the evening, the entire family sat down together at the huge Brethren Court meeting table in the Great Chamber for their big Christmas feast. Jack sat next to Teague as everyone, except he and the little cousins, poured themselves drinks. He looked down at his soon-to-be-filled rusty tin plate, hoping he would have a peaceful Christmas dinner for once.

Grandmama came into the chamber with a large plate of a giant roasted pork. Everyone's mouths watered at the smell of the freshly cooked meat.

This was the one time of year when Jack was able to eat a full meal, since trying to go to the kitchen for even a small snack was a risk of his own life. Yet his family always asked him, "Why are you so skinny? You need to gain weight!" In which he replied with, "Well that's because none of you lot ever feed me!"

Grandmama held up her walking cane and unsheathed her sword from it. The sword was long and very very sharp, and Jack knew that from painful experience. He winced every time he saw the sword drawn. She held the sword slightly over the pork and began the slowly slice the thick meat. She did so over and over again, until she cut the last slice.

Grandmama held up her now meat and juice covered sword. "Dinner, is served!" she declared. The family cheered.

Everyone served themselves a slice of pork, with the sides of potatoes and corn. Jack slowly ate his meal, savoring the flavor of each bite, knowing he wouldn't have a good meal like this until next year, if ever again.

Unlike most everyone else's tankards, who's were filled with either spirits like beer or ale, or straight up rum or whiskey, his was filled with plain old grog, with the alcohol content so low, he couldn't even get a buzz off it. Jack hated that Teague wouldn't let him drink, especially when sitting with the whole family who were all drinking, and he'd have to deal with everyone's unruly drunken behavior whilst he was sober. He hoped everyone would somewhat behave this time.

Jack was next to Teague, and on the other side next to him was Uncle Jack, then Aunt Hazel and Patriarch. Across from Teague was Brannigan, and next to Brannigan, sitting across from Jack, was Valerie, McFlemming's four children, then McFlemming herself at the end of the table. The other end of the table, nearby Teague, sat Grandmama.

"Ay, did I ever tell ye kids about the skele'n?" Uncle Jack asked the little cousins. The four children shook their heads. "The skeleton goes into a bar, orders a  _ beer _ and a  _ mop _ !"

A chuckle came out of Brannigan. Three of the kids looked at each other, and one of them exclaimed, "Haha! You've gotta be  _ shitin'  _ me!"

Not even a moment after the kid spoke, something slammed at the end of the table, making everyone jump and turn to McFlemming. Jack choked on a piece of meat.

"HEY! Ye can't be using that language, ye little brat!" McFlemming yelled.

"Sorry," the child quietly peeped out.

McFlemming turned to the rest of the family. "Which one of ye's has been teachin' me children those words?!"

Everyone immediately turned to Jack, who was minding his own business and eating his dinner. He looked up when he felt everyone's eyes of him. " _ What? _ "

"Don't  _ 'what?'  _ me, boy!" Teague said. "You swear in front of the kids all the time!"

Jack raised his eyebrows, taken aback by Teague's comment. "Oh? Yes, I may be responsible for some of that, but weren't  _ you _ the one cursing up a storm the other day, in front of  _ all _ of us, while we were decorating the tree we had to sing  _ 'A Pirate's Life For Me'  _ to this morning?"

Teague slapped the boy upside the head. Valerie snickered. Jack huffed and went back to eating.

After a little while, everyone who was drinking started to feel the drinks. As Jack was finishing his meal, Valerie took her empty tankard and threw it at his head. However, her drunken aim was off and the tankard hit Uncle Jack instead. Uncle Jack slowly stood up, grabbed his own empty tankard, and threw it at Brannigan, who was just finishing his drink.

Brannigan stood up as well. "Oh yer going to be regretting that one, mate," he threatened. Just then, the two drunken uncles began to throw fists over the table.

Grandmama stood up and slammed the table. "Hey! Ye two! Go take it outside!  _ Now _ !"

"Nice job, you bloody sea cow," Jack quietly said to Valerie with gritted teeth.

A knife whistled over Jack's head, just close enough the shave off the tips of his long, scraggly hair.

The fighting uncles made their way outside, still throwing fists, with the children excitedly following them, followed by Patriarch, McFlemming, Grandmama, and Teague.

Valerie jumped over the large table, charging at Jack with one of her knives. Jack nimbly sidestepped and Valerie ran past him and hit the wall, causing her knife to get stuck.

"Ha! Missed that one, mate," Jack said as Valerie struggled to pull her knife out of the wooden wall.

Jack noticed almost everyone else was gone, except for Aunt Hazel. Jack and Aunt Hazel made their way outside as well to observe the brawling family.

Uncle Jack and "Ace" Brannigan were still fighting, and the little cousins were helping to beat up Brannigan. One of the kids sat there crying because he got hit. Patriarch was attempting to break up the brawl to no avail. Nearby, Grandmama and "Quick Draw" McFlemming were also fighting, throwing knives at each other. Teague was sitting in a chair, strumming his guitar like usual. The was how a usual Christmas, or any other holiday, always ended in a pirate family.

Jack sighed. "I wish Teague would let me drink...so I could forget about all of this."

"Oh dear," Aunt Hazel said in worry. "What are the neighbors going to think?"

Jack snorted and chuckled a little to himself as he stared at his brawling family. If anything, a fighting family in front of their house was not too unusual in the town of Shipwreck City.

Jack smirked and answered, "They'd know that Christmas is here."

**THE END!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **(A/N: Ahoy! I originally published this story on WattPad a year ago on Christmas. Since I just started posting my stories on here, old and new, just recently, I thought it would be a good time to publish this story on here too. Although it doesn't really feel like Christmas to me this year because ya know, 2020, I still want to wish YOU all a Merry Christmas! And if I don't post here before then, Happy New Year too!)**


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